Commander Shepard: The Story of a Hero
by Ryu Coleridge
Summary: This is my own version of Commander Shepard's life. See how a young boy develops since he was born, his early military careers and the events that made him famous before and during the Reaper War. Narrates events from his pre-service life, early career and obviously events from the Mass Effect Trilogy with some events from after Mass Effect 3 (I suck at summaries, ok?)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely NOTHING about the Mass Effect universe, just some characters created by me and some of my own additions to the storyline but that's it. If I owned the trilogy of games, the third game's ending would have been a little bit better. But just a little.**

**Author's Note: well. This is my first story ever. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a lot time though, just wanted to wait for all the DLC to come out for the ME3 Game and now that Citadel DLC is out and I'm done with it I can say I can start writing this story. Trust me is gonna be a hell of a long story if I ever decide to complete it alright?**

**Now there is also another thing I want to point out before you guys start to read. I'm from Venezuela and I'm 16 yeah? English isn't my mother language and the english education in high schools here in my country sucks really bad. I can handle myself in talking but when it comes to making stories... Well that is another matter. I'd like constructive criticism I want you guys to tell me my mistakes in a constructive way so I can learn more about the story-writing in english and also improve my abilities, I would really appreciate that.**

**Last but not least I have NEVER read any of the Mass Effect Books. I have no idea what the hell happens in them, and the timeline and time system itself confuses me. Trust me I've spent hours reading the Mass Effect Wiki just to do something decent about all the historical events that don't occur in the game. Also, the name of my Shepard is not John Shepard but because I'm a lazy bastard and I didn't have any idea of how to describe my own Shepard, his appearance is the same as the default Shepard.**

**Well, that is about it. Try to enjoy and if you're gonna throw tomatoes to me, I would like them to be in a good state, I cannot make sauce out of rotten tomatoes.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Great Introduction and the Origins of a Hero**

Mindoir. It was a calm April day on the small farming colony in the year of 2170, nothing really stood out of the ordinary, just some families doing their everyday chores and the loud noise of some kids messing up with gas bags every now and then.

Everything was just perfect in the colony, even the uneasiness that the colonists had when the place was founded seventeen years ago seemed now like some stupid fear that was now unjustified.

All those years ago, Mindoir was founded by the human Systems Alliance as a galactic colonization plan that started shortly after the discovery of the Charon Relay, a "Mass Relay" devices that connected all of the galaxy in a network of fast ship transportation, Faster Than Light speed, the Charon Relay connected the Sol System to this transit network, it opened a lot of possibilities for humans, and this was the beginning. Humanity went unnoticed by other alien cultures and at the same time, a great part of the humans themselves even seemed to forget the myth of other species in the universe, the "we may not be alone in the universe" now seemed like a forgotten question of the 20th Century. In 2152 was founded the first human colony outside the Sol System, Eden Prime and in 2153, Mindoir was also founded, humanity seemed at its peak, expanding at great speed through the galaxy.

2154, and the first human child was born in Mindoir, he was not the first human born outside the human System, that right was to the first generation of the "Children of Eden" as some called them, but this little baby was like a victory to the colonists of Mindoir, the child was named Cameron Shepard and he was like a token for a brighter future in the colony.

The spot that the common human citizens gave to themselves as the owners of the universe crumbled as the Alliance started to make them remember, the possibility of First Contact with other species, with aliens. That possibility was getting higher as the days passed, because in the end, the more planets humanity discovered the more exposed they were to aliens, and since they didn't know what would happen when they made First Contact, it was never out of place to reinforce the security of the already established colonies, this was 2155.

Then, the moment everyone started to fear the year before happened. First Contact with Aliens was made in 2156. An intelligent life form that was so different from everything the humans have known before in terms of combat, armament and ship design.

To make the First Contact worse, it began a short war. Humans were trying to activate a Mass Relay, what was wrong with that? But nevertheless this alien race was "irrationally" hostile to humans, they attacked human ships that were founded in the system, humans took casualties, but the aliens took a lot of damage too.

The aliens attacked the closest colony to this inactive Mass Relay, known as Shanxi. The attack was somehow a surprise to the "all-mighty" human Alliance and the aliens were able to make the General stationed there, last name Williams, surrender. "The First Human to Surrender to an Alien", that was definitely a shame for Williams.

The humans managed to retake Shanxi a month after, the conflict was heating up, in no time it could have been an all-out war, but then other alien species stopped the hostile aliens from their attacks.

Taking the time to pacify and translate the humans and their language, a representative of the hostile aliens, alongside two other alien representatives of different species, a blue human-like woman but with tentacles in her head representing the "asari" and an odd-looking, slim man whose race resembled to the salamanders found on Earth, but anthropomorphic representing the "salarians", the representative of the hostile race, the "turians" looked tall, with a solid skin and dog-like feet.

The alliance was spared for their mistake "you didn't know what you were doing, human" said the asari representative.

The end of First Contact War displeased a lot of turians, since they were sentenced to amend the humans while a lot of humans held a grudge agains the turians creating xenophobic movements like Terra Firma and Cerberus. Although the public new a lot about the former, the latter was considered just a rumor by a lot of humans and even some of the low-ranked Alliance soldiers until they confirmed their exisctence with terrorist attacks on Alliance facilities.

These representatives also explained about the Council, how galactic politics worked, the unified money know as "credits" and even offered the opening of a human embassy on the most advanced place of the galaxy, The Citadel. As the years passed, humans were to learn about galactic history, about why they shouldn't reactivate that Mass Relay, making a lot of humans realize their mistake and understand why the turians attacked "What it seemed like an act of war to us, ended up being a law-enforcement action taken by the turians" was the explanation the politicians gave to the rest of humanity after the creation of the embassy.

The humans were to learn about all other galactic species, not only Council species. They gained a permission to keep colonizing and the colonies that already existed were legalized. Although the Council didn't like that last part, Eden Prime and Mindoir alongside many other human colonies like Elysium and Akuze were founded on the Attican Traverse, a real dangerous zone since it was known to be near batarian space and it was close to the Terminus Systems, area where the Council laws meant nothing. Nevertheless, humans didn't stop founding colonies in the zone.

Seventeen years have passed since the founding of Mindoir, sixteen since the birth of Cameron Shepard and fourteen since the first contact. Humanity's place in the galaxy is now solid, but they haven't faced a real threat since the First Contact War. Today, although is still a normal day on Mindoir for many humans, for one family is a special day since is Cameron's birthday.

* * *

"The celebration has been on for a while now, but nighttime is coming and tomorrow's gonna be a long day, babe" Said Robert Shepard, Cameron's father while hugging Hannah Shepard his wife.

"At least Cameron is having a nice day playing with his friends, is nice to see him away from gas bags. That boy hasn't learned and he's already a teen" She said relieved while enjoying herself in Robert's hug.

He let go off her "Well, I'm going to watch the game, who would have thought that we'd be having fun while watching some aliens play a sport… Bioball was it?" he said as he entered the house and sat at the couch.

"I think is Biotiball there, sweetie" Hannah said trying to keep calm, although something was bugging her, so she took a deep breath and said "I don't know, this is all so new and it has been fourteen years since First Contact. Besides, there's still a lot of grudge against extraterrestrials and not only turians, you remember what Morrison said the other day about supporting Terra Firma? What's next, joining Cerberus?" Hannah was concerned about this; Sean Morrison was one of his childhood friends.

"Yeah, I know that we don't want Cam to live in that hatred but it still worries me that he's growing up in such a tense environment, and I heard that Terra Firma was planning to become a party at the Citadel. Being a party on Earth is not enough?" Robert said while watching the game "don't think they'll succeed though, the only support they have is half of Shanxi's survivors".

"But it makes me think that humans will never learn the First Contact War was a mistake from both our race and the turians" said Hannah in a grim tone "if we hold this grudge for a long time, we may end up being hated by the other alien species, and trust me, the turians are doing their best to hide their anger"

"Don't see the big problem with some losing alien support" Robert said careless "but hey, Resentment is a bad thing, keep it for too long, and humanity may start another war if remorseful extremists take control of, you know… Something more important than a cake store"

"You're always like that my dumb sweetheart" she said playful "But I love you anyways" she reassured him smiling.

"Dumb? I can live with that… And know that I lo… " He was interrupted as a scream came from outside of the house "what was that?" Silence between both Shepards as the TV announcer said "_Commercial break, don't leave!_"

"Probably someone messing up with gas bags, this place has pretty much nothing else to…" another scream interrupted Hanna this time "_in other news, the human celebration for the end of the First Contact War…_"

Someone tried to open the door fiercely, even started knocking (which was unnecessary since 2090) as Robert rushed to open it "Hey, Louise!" he was surprised to see her, she was an adult and a young mother, blonde and a little tanned. She was the mother of one of the teens playing at Cameron's party but something about her was off, she was sweating and panting heavily.

"Talitha! Where's Talitha?!" She said and rushed inside of the house before she was let in "b-batarians! They-They're murdering everyone!" she added as if she was trying to explain.

"What?" Hannah said worried "Why would they…?" then she heard a shooting outside, the batarians were getting close to their house

Robert rushed at the backyard and Hannah started to look out of the window, as the shooting started to hear closer and closer Hannah's heart rushed more and more, it was becoming an unbearable sensation "What happened to the guards?" She whispered to herself as Robert grabbed her and pulled her to the kitchen.

"Dad, what's going on? My friends and I were just about to…" Cameron started but he was interrupted by his father.

"Babe, Cam. You know where the escape shuttles are, we are going to go to them and try to get the hell out of here, okay?" He said.

"Dad? What happened? Why did Talitha leave? What's going on?" The teenager asked.

"Cam, it's hard to remember you're already a teen, heh" he said in a short moment of happiness, with a slight smile in his face. He then took a breath and started to explain "batarians are attacking, I don't know the details but it seems like they're slavers according to Louise"

"Batarians? Why?" Cameron was interrupted by his mother's hand. Then he saw that the slavers were just outside of the house looking for someone to kill. Robert put up a bypass to the door from his onmnitool.

"_It appears that there are kids in the backyard_" one said "_let's take them, then we'll kill some of them in front of their parents_" other said "_yeah, it'll be fun to watch those humans cry before we shoot them_" a third one added "_the ones that we won't kill are coming with us, make sure they're strong males or strong females, their going do a lot of hard work to where we are taking them_" the second one added, that was clearly the leader of the three and the first one added "_but Tanok, what's up with the rest of the team'_" said the first "_easy, they do what they want with the ones they found, we have enough slaves already but it is still fun to enslave more and more humans... They'll never learn, that's why we should probably just wipe everyone out of our planets_" the second one, referred to as Tanok said and then with an explosion the door fell down making a big noise as it hit the floor "better than wasting omnigel, hehehehe"

The slavers walked past the kitchen to the backyard without looking at it, every instinct in Cameron told him to hurry and get out of there before the slavers decided to look everywhere in the house for people, he grabbed the arms of both his parents and started running, taking his chances through the main door.

Nobody was in front of his house, nothing more than corpses from Alliance Marines were on the street and the slavers seemed to be holding the civilians in the plaza since the shooting they heard was coming from there "_Damn! They are executing us_". The plaza was luckily in the opposite side of the shuttle bay, they started to run towards the shuttle bay but suddenly they were stopped when Hannah took a shot in the arm.

"Mom!" Cameron screamed as she fell in her spot, the shot hit right in a vein and she started to bleed badly.

"Thought you would escape human?" the batarian asked mockingly "well, I have bad news for you! You are not!"

Another batarian came from inside a house and another one from an alley and they kept coming until they were surrounded, it was a trap.

"Cam, take your mom and go, there should be medigel in the shuttle bay, there's always a medigel dispenser in almost every building" Robert  
whispered to Cam then he took a concussive round to the stomach "Gah!"

"Dad!" Cameron screamed as he took Hannah from the injured arm and lift her "_Maybe this way I can put pressure on her arm while running away_". Preparing to follow his dad's plan, holding the tears that he was about to drop just by the idea of abandoning his father with these savages.

"Stop talking human, the next one will be a real one" the circle the batarians had was closing in until they were in Robert's reach.

"Now!" Robert screamed, right after that he tackled one of the slavers and left a path open for Cameron to flee with his mother in his arms, chance that Cameron took to run without looking behind, the last he heard about his dad that was a faint scream of a 'I love you both' while the batarians shot Robert until their weapons overheated.

"That was fun" Said one of the batarians, and then he started a process in his omnitool "Yeah, it is me Namor. Tell the rookie that it's his chance to prove himself… Yeah, there are two humans; the female is wounded and bleeding out… May be the Shepards… The man is dead, so even if the humans survive this, which they won't, they will not have a leader… The kid is just a cry baby, I saw it in his face so don't even kill him, he might do a good slave with some training

… Whatever, the founder is dead, her wife is dying and we'll keep their son as a trophy, see it that way… As I said, let the rookie take care of them… Yeah, yeah. Out. Damn idiots that is why I hate this gang, should have joined the blue suns…"

"Hey, watch it. Remember their leader is a human" chastised another batarian.

"Shut up Cathka and take your position in case other damn humans try to escape" hushed Namor.

"Sorry Namor, but it was you who thought me that humans…" Cathka was hushed again by Namor, who was pointing his gun at him "yeah, I get it, humans could be nice mercs, whatever… You've changed"

"Someday you'll understand, but for now just focus on your next payment" Namor concluded

* * *

Cameron was soaking his right shoulder with his mom's blood; she was still losing blood and losing consciousness, so Cameron tried to double time his step. But it was hard since Hannah was barely even moving her feet, she was bleeding out.

"C-Cameron…" Hannah tried to say with whatever forces she had, there was a lot of blood coming from her arm "_she's-she's… No! Don't think about it_".

"Shush mom, save your strength. We are both getting out of here" Cameron comforted her

"I want you to know that… That" She ignored Cameron as they were closing the shuttle bay

"Mom, don't push it!" he tried again to calm his mom.

"We are so proud of you, we love you… Never forget that" she said before fainting, Cameron checked the pulse of her heart.

"_She's still alive, I can make it in time, the shuttle bay is right there_" he was about to enter the building that looked like a hangar when he heard a gunshot. It didn't hurt him, but that just made the fear even worse. Some seconds later his fear was proved to be real, the shot was to his mom, Hannah Shepard took a second shot in her head.

"There's no way… _We _are here!" he turned around and saw another group of the slavers, and one with the gun raised, the one who took the shot.

"Nice job Balak" said one of the batarians "Guess you have guts, even for a rookie"

"Well, she was dead anyway. That human was just target practice" Balak said "Now I'll take the other one"

Cameron was not moving, his feelings were mixed; he felt sorrow, anger, he was alone now and he knew it… Both of his parents were dead now; what would he do?, "is it worth to survive this? I…" Then he realized he felt vengeful too "I'm… I'm going to…" As he said that and his feeling of vengeance accumulated his body was being enveloped by some kind of blue energy. It felt like "_element zero?_" He had been in presence of working "Eezo" while the chief engineer of the colony worked on some crazy machinery when he was younger, it was quite a unique feeling.

Cameron heard stories that many living species had biotic potential and his father, who was chief of Mindoir and ex-Alliance told him that humans may get it if are exposed to Element Zero, a rare element capable of producing Mass Effect Fields, before birth. Did it mean that Cameron's mother was exposed to the rare "Eezo" in large amounts while he was unborn? That raised more questions that would probably never be answered, because both of his parents were still dead.

"_Dead_" The anger was rising in the last of the Shepards as was incrementing the intensity of the blue wave, the Eezo in his body. In the end, though, the biotic power that was charging around Shepard's body was too much for him. Cameron lost control of it and the energy was released in a form of a biotic energy spherical wave, large enough to throw the two batarians to the ground and costing Shepard a lot of his remaining energy.

He was feeling numb but still, he tried to enter into the shuttle. He activated an auto-pilot mode once he was inside and then he set the shuttle to the closest Alliance ship in the area. "_SSV Stockholm_" he got to see on the console, then he closed his eyes as he blacked out, but not before listening to the colonists still being shot at by the batarians.

"_I'm gonna make them pay, they are going to fear me_" was the only thing in Shepard's mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Meeting a friend.**

"_Major! Major we have a survivor_" Cameron didn't know what was going on; the last thing he remembered was the sound of shoots below him.

"_Corporal, at ease, take him to the medbay quickly. Dr. Selena should take a look at him at once_" Said an imposing voice; Cameron assumed it was the Commander of the ship "_Also inform Captain Clark about our new guest… Looks like a teen… take his omnitool and have our chief engineer to analyze it_"

"_Aye aye, Major_" was the last thing Shepard heard before fainting again.

"_Apparently his energy loss was in a large amount, sir"_ said a woman, Dr. Selena if Shepard was to guess.

* * *

"...I see, well thanks" Shepard saw a tall dark-skinned and fairly old man say as he opened his eyes. The man turned in Shepard's direction and saw that the teen was now awake.

"Major Anderson, I think he just woke up" said the doctor, she was young and her eyes were green, they were the most outstanding thing about Dr. Selene, besides her Latin American accent and the fact that she was wearing a soldier's uniform instead of a doctor's. Her raven hair and tanned skin matched perfectly "_at least she is good-looking_" thought Shepard to himself, he internally chuckled at his remark before remembering…

"Mindoir!" He screamed, obviously concerned about his colony.

"Our thoughts were correct Major, this chico is from Mindoir… I can say from his reaction that he escaped the raid from the last week" informed the doctor to the Commander.

"Last week? What are you talking about? What about my parents and my friends? Talitha, Nathan and Mister Morrison?" Shepard started to think about everyone he knew and then the image of his parents being killed by batarians popped up in his mind, which made him sad, reflected in his expression by the tears that were forming in his eyeballs.

"Calm down, son. Right now you are in the SSV Stockholm, an Alliance ship, my name is David Anderson and my rank is Major, the batarian raid was last week, tell us who you are and what happened and I'll tell you the rest of what happened in Mindoir" Said the Major Anderson "take your time, there is no pressure"

"Alright" Shepard closed his eyes trying to remember what happened and tried hard not to faint again "_Damn, I'm tired_" he thought "Ok, I-I was celebrating my birthday with my friends, I'm sixteen"

"Happy birthday then son and sorry about what happened; keep going" the Major said in a sorrowful tone.

"Thanks Major. Well, my dad and mom went inside the house, pretty sure he was going to see the game. Me and my friends were planning on hanging out, maybe mess up with some gas bags, there was nothing really interesting to do in such a small farming colony" he said like trying to remember the good times before last week. "Then a friend's mother came into my house rushing looking for her, and then my dad took me and my mother inside the house. We hid in the kitchen and then some batarians broke in and started to terrorize my friends in the backyard"

"They weren't merciful" Said Anderson, Shepard shook his head and kept telling the story.

"No, they were not... Then... I don't really know what to say... They barely used their names, but I remember that one was called Tanok, for what is worth" Shepard said still trying to hold the tears while he kept narrating the events of the raid "There was no warning, they just got to the colony and started the killing. They were talking about enslaving humans so I-I grabbed my parents' arms and ran outside of the house as fast as I could"

"But outside was worse, there were corpses in the street, and I heard that they were executing humans in the plaza. We ran to the shuttle bay that was in the opposite side but-" the tears finally started to fall from his eyes "they shot mom in the arm; think they hit a vein or something because she was bleeding badly"

Anderson put one of his hands in Shepard's shoulder "If you want to stop or rest…" Shepard shook his head.

"They surrounded us, like in a circle formation so my dad sacrificed himself. He tackled one of the batarians so I could run with mom in my shoulder. As we were getting farther from the place the batarians just shot until their guns ran out of ammo"

"_Guns don't use ammo anymore, but I supposed it would be insensitive from me to tell this to the chico right now_" thought the doctor while Shepard started to sob.

"When we were at the shuttle bay, thought I could grab some medigel for mom. Another group of batarians killed her. The one that shot her in the head said that she was 'target practice' that made me angry and…" the Eezo waves from the moment were present for another couple of second in Shepard's body as he got angry again from the memory.

"Oh mi Dios. Major, you think…" Dr. Selena was stopped by Anderson who decided to let Shepard finish his story.

"Well, I don't remember exactly what happened from there, I got more and more angry and then the batarians were on the floor and I was on the shuttle. I remember I set it to auto-pilot. I think this was the closest Alliance ship to Mindoir" Said Shepard "I blacked out right after I heard the batarians were still shooting people on the plaza... Any other survivors?"

"None... I'm sorry. We were just patrolling when the signal of your shuttle was heard. It was an emergency signal so we thought it was an attack right away. We didn't know it was the batarians until the first team we sent told us right before getting slaughtered" Anderson explained

"There is no way! Someone else must be alive" Shepard screamed.

"Calm down son! We didn't know until it was too late, when the second team was sent the batarians had left with every other survivor... Why didn't you notice the raid before the batarians blew your door?" Anderson asked curious as Shepard started to calm down.

"Well, the structure of the colony is… Strange; I mean, our house was at the edge of the city instead of near the plaza, it is the closest place near the shuttle bay because it was the first house to be built in the planet" Shepard explained.

"You haven't told me who you are yet, son but I believe I knew your parents, Cameron Shepard, right?" Shepard's eyes widened as he heard Anderson call him by his name, Cameron was as surprised as Selena.

"How come you know me? Wait, my dad is—was an ex-Alliance…" Shepard said figuring out "But he never mentioned someone as famous as you" Anderson face darkened.

"I knew your dad, we were friends for a while, then First Contact War happened and he was stationed in Shanxi. After General Williams surrendered and we came in to retake the place, he was different, hateful, but still he kept me asking if Mindoir was ok because he worried about both you and your mom, a couple of months after he retired"

"Why do you say he changed? And why did you to distance?" Shepard asked curious about the stories his father never told him.

"He was a cheerful and easygoing man, but after Shanxi he closed himself to everyone but his family, and he also developed a big hatred for aliens, couldn't even see a turian without twitching his face" Anderson explained.

"That's not true" Shepard denied "My dad was always talking about not blaming aliens for First Contact War, about not hating extraterrestrial species and my mom was always with him, supporting the stance"

"Perhaps he hid his rage for your sake, Shepard... In any case, that's how I saw him after we retook Shanxi" Anderson said "But there is something more important"

"What? Shepard? No "son"?" he asked really curious.

"I would prefer to call you by your last name if you don't mind, that's how I called your dad out of respect, besides you're the only Shepard on the ship" Anderson explained.

"I'm the only Shepard alive from that family!" Shepard said angry "But thank you for the respect, Major" said after a little.

Anderson shook his head, the he said "Listen to me Shepard, you have biotic abilities but in order to control them you'll need training and Biotic Implants, maybe you should consider in joining the Alliance since we can provide you of both" Anderson said in a serious tone.

"Look, it is an honor Major, I know that you are one of the most famous veterans of the First Contact War and according the documentaries and pretty much every human news channel you look at, you were awarded by Jon Grissom himself after being the first person to complete the N7 program. I shouldn't even stand on your presence, and it means a lot that you think of me as a soldier, but I have to say. Hell. No" Shepard said very annoyed "I need a way to avenge my parents, should go to the colony again and wait for the batarians to come back or something. I mean, in the end where else am I supposed to go?"

"According to what you just said, you need the Alliance now more than ever" Anderson pointed out smartly.

"You see, there are two main problems with your plan, number one: I need to be 18, and I won't survive 2 years without a place to go or credits to spend. Number 2: in the Alliance I will need to follow orders, discipline and all that shit, and right now all _I_ want is revenge!" Shepard said as the anger was notably seen in his body thanks to the eezo emanating from it.

"And how do you exactly plan to fulfill your vendetta? I'm listening, you can't control your biotics, you don't know how to use a gun and you have no credits, like you just said" Anderson closed his eyes and then he had a brilliant idea "If you'd like to, you can stay at the Stockholm for the two years you need before joining the Alliance" Anderson had a comeback Shepard could not answer, but this time the one who answered was Selena.

"Major, you can't do that, you have no legal permission" She said concerned "As much as I would like to have this chico with us in the ship…"

"No need to worry, doctor. I'll talk Hackett for his permission, but that's if our guest accepts" Anderson turned back to Shepard "So, what do you think?"

Shepard was staring at the floor for a moment, thinking about his plans and chances, Anderson was right and someone of his reputation in the Alliance would never get a no for an answer "Okay, but on one condition" Anderson raised an eyebrow "I want to get new clothes and you'll have to give me 1000 credits before I leave the ship"

"Deal" was Anderson answer as he raised his hand to shake Shepard's. Cameron shook Anderson's sealing the beginning of Shepard's travels around the galaxy.

* * *

The SSV Stockholm was a small ship, really small even for a frigate, in a matter of months the crew got to know the teen Shepard, they shared meals, comments and pretty much female soldier saw Shepard as some kind of cute interim while the male soldiers liked to talk to him about sports and guns and vehicles.

"_Guess being a teen in a place with scarce to no children per year has its advantages_"

The first year went fast, and before Shepard realized it he was already 17 years old, and although it was important the crewmen decided it would be best not to celebrate in any way his birthday, at least not that year, everyone but the new recruits knew about the raid.

"You think the Major is bored, Shepard?" Liutenant Danielle Schneider, the newest member of the crew assigned to the ship 6 months after the raid asked Cameron on a dinner "I mean, he got used to have plenty of shaky missions in the SSV Hastings, and for the last six months the Stockholm has been as peaceful as Eden Prime, not as beautiful though" she said kind of disappointed.

"Maybe, but why are you asking _me _Danielle. I'm here because of him but no more, I'm not his childhood friend or something" Shepard grunted.

"Hey, sorry. Bad day?" she asked concerned.

"Pretty much, yeah. My parents died today last year" that definitely was a charm killer for Danielle.

"Hey… For what is worth, I am sorry" She said "Should I leave you alone?"

"Please" he responded.

The months passed by as Shepard got closer to the crew, yet the bond was never very developed because Shepard kept pushing everyone away.

"Yeah, so me and my friends enlisted four months ago, but I was the only one assigned to a ship, can you believe that Shepard?"

"Sean, I don't care. I'm glad for you and all, but I don't really care"

"Jeez Shepard, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, please just leave me alone" Shepard said bluntly.

* * *

Sometime passed and Shepard spent most of his time in either the crew deck or his own room down at the shuttle bay...

"Shepard" Anderson called.

"What is it Major?" Shepard asked feeling down.

"Don't do that. You can call me Anderson… I've already told you that"

"What is it Anderson?" Shepard asked.

"We're going to be on shore leave soon. During your birthday" Anderson answered carefully, Shepard's face darkened at the mention of his birthday.

"Yeah, so?" The answer from Shepard was cold.

"I know that you have been distant from the crew, but that day you are going to be 18. It'll be the end of our bargain since you'll be able to enlist in the Alliance Marines. You haven't changed your plan, have you?" Anderson asked curious now.

"I know about that and no, I'll enlist. Then I'll avenge my parents" Shepard said with anger in his words

"Listen to me Shepard, not as a Major but as a friend, because I would like to think of you as one…" Anderson was interrupted.

"You are not my friend, Anderson! I don't know why you're doing this in the first place. I don't care about your relationship with my father, I'm not him and if you think helping me will be some kind of atonement with him then forget it. I took your offer of joining the Alliance, now please just fucking leave me alone" Shepard said exasperated.

Anderson kept his cool "I know it is hard Shepard, especially for you. You are a teenager, you did not deserve what happened but what's done is done. Try to move on"

"What would_ you_ know? Mister Perfect Military Career" Anderson face seemed slightly pained after the comment but he didn't lose his calm.

"Shepard, we are going to be on shore leave on Elysium and I wanted you to go to this direction the day of your birthday, it is not going to be a party but I want to show you something as a farewell" Then Anderson passed the coordinates to Shepard's omnitool and said "dismissed"

* * *

One week after, the Stockholm crew started their shore leave in Elysium as the ship entered in maintenance. The first day of the shore leave was casually also Shepard's birthday, so he went to the coordinates Anderson gave him the week before.

The coordinates were in the same capital of the colony Illyria, actually a little away from the real city. Elysium itself had a standard temperature of 8 grades Celsius, the planet was usually cold making honor to the name of "alpine paradise"

The direction lead to a common building, a small house of two floors "_would never attract any kind of unwanted attention_" Shepard thought "_Why would Anderson want to show me this place?_"

"There you are, Shepard" Anderson said in his usual tone "I wanted to present you to someone, and trust me I wanted you to come because this is a one in a _lifetime_ meeting" Anderson remarked that last part as he entered a code for the lock. "After you Shepard, but don't knock the door"

Shepard didn't understand why all the secrecy and complications, it was just a common Elysian house "Anderson…"

He knocked the door in a peculiar pattern, and then was when shepard noted that the door was one of the old Earth doors from the early millennia, but disguised with holograms as one of the modern doors. The door was opened and the first thing that stood out was that you couldn't see much from outside, everything was really dark. Anderson moved his head in the direction of the door, gesturing Shepard to go inside.

Once both entered, Anderson shut the door and the lights were turned on "Anderson, I heard you are now a Major. Has Kahlee been alright?" An old man said from a chair in his living room, Shepard was about to go on ahead and sit, but Anderson stopped him and shook his head in a negative way.

"Grissom, I really am sorry to ask you to meet me here with a friend. I know how much you hate the attention especially from the Alliance" Anderson said. Shepard's eyes widened

"Your friend is Alliance too?" Jon Grissom, one of the heroes of humanity asked.

"He's enlisting today, right Shepard?" Shepard nodded, and then he realized Grissom was not able to see him.

"Y-yes I'm enlisting today, sir" Shepard said for the first time since his first day in the Stockholm.

"Don't go all respectful on me like that kid, I accepted just because I owe Anderson. You don't owe me any respect" Grissom said.

"Hey, you should be a little more kind Grissom, he's just a teenager and I've seen his intelligence during his time in the Stockholm. He dominates advanced math and physics very well for a colonist from _Mindoir_" Anderson stated.

The last part got Grissom's attention "Mindoir. You mean the colony that suffered the batarian raid two years ago?"

"Yeah. And he survived… Although…" Anderson started.

"His parents died in the raid? I'm sorry kid. So Robert Shepard was your dad? Good man, too stubborn, but good... Let me tell you something as tip from an old man, Shepard. Don't let that raid define you, if you wish to make it far in both the military and in your life. Even if you don't listen to me, trust me, you'll learn the lesson, in the end we all have to learn our lessons anyway" Grissom finished "Now leave Anderson, I don't want the Alliance on my frontyard tomorrow, I really like Elysium" Grissom said dismissive.

"Will do, Jon and sorry for bothering you. Kahlee is fine by the way but… We…" Anderson said as he and Shepard started to leave.

"Don't call me that" Grissom cut Anderson "And you don't have to tell me about her"

Anderson opened the door and got out but before Shepard stepped out Grissom added "Good luck, I think you'll do a great N7"

"_N7, that's going too far_" Shepard thought "Why would you say that, sir? I mean… Grissom"

"Because differently to all the rest of humanity, you kept calm and didn't started to squeak my name when you knew it was me. Besides, Alliance needs more honorable people like you, if you are anything like your father and also, if you really are that smart, you'll do what's right when the time comes. Never forget what I told you"

"I understand, Grissom" Even though that's what Shepard said, he still wanted to get payback for his parents. A two year grudge was not easily forgotten like that.

_In the end we all have to learn our lessons anyway… _That's everything that Shepard thought as he en routed himself to the Alliance Military base of Elysium, a half an hour trip from Grissom's home on foot _"Not a good job for someone who wants to be away from the Alliance though"_.

* * *

Before he entered the building, Anderson grabbed Shepard in the shoulder "Good luck and happy birthday, recruit" he said as he saluted Shepard.

Shepard saluted Anderson in return "I want to apologize for what I said the other day, I consider you a friend too, thanks for giving me this chance" they both ended the salutation "but before I enter, I want to ask you something. You said that you knew how hard it was for me to lose my parents like that, but how _would_ you know?"

"Being Mister Perfect Military Career is not as easy as I would like it to be, I had to sacrifice a lot of things… My parents included" Anderson said sorrowful.

"They're dead?" Shepard asked bluntly.

"No… I think. The last time a talked to them since I completed the N7 program, that was plenty of years ago" Anderson answered.

"Why's that?"

"Didn't want to risk them, I've been through a lot Shepard… Maybe someday I'll tell you" he said.

"You _are_ my friend, and in a few hours my superior. I hope to see you again someday Major, farewell" Shepard said as he walked inside of the building.


	3. Chapter 3

******Well. I'm going to try to be as quick and clear as possible as to why it took me more than a month to actually update. Here in my country, the electoral situation has been a pain in the butt since April 14th. Yeah, I'm talking about the whole president Maduro affair xD. What does it have to do with the time I upload stories? Well, my school is an electoral center and basically, thanks to all the time we lost with the election plus the whole left vs right thing we had to shorten the final term and although the knew the situation, my lovely teachers wanted us, the students to learn the content they usually give in two months in one. I've been ever since busy with an increasing amount of work and work and more work that just started to soften mainly because this is my final week of class (if you wanna add another week going just to do the finals...) Anyway, the whole situation has been a mess and just today I was able to upload a new chapter. Hopefully I'll get enough time to upload regularly for the next three months... I just love how long my vacations are... Anyway, that is my case.**

* * *

**Year 2174**

**Chapter 3: Alliance Corporal and First Mission.**

It has been two years since Shepard enlisted in the Human Systems Alliance Marines. His training took a year longer than the usual marine training because of his biotic abilities, apparently the fact the he wasn't send to one of the biotic training programs as a child because he was born out of earth nearly cost him the spot in the Navy Program. At the beginning it was hard for him, he had to balance the time between training and also he had the obligation to go to a specialized doctor one a week for his "condition".¿, "_Doc. Oz... __i__f it wasn't because I lived aboard Anderson's vessel..._". But after one and a half year of hard work, Shepard finally earned his rank of Corporal and started his official military career. He wasn't assigned to a ship right away. Instead, he was assigned to one of the ground teams, his remarkable grades as well as his outstanding results in the fitness tests proved him to be not only more than capable but also smarter than the common folk "_Even if they say so, I will never EVER do an IQ test, I just think the results might dissapoint me_".

"Hey, Shepard" called out one of Shepard's new squad members.

"What is it, Davidson?" Shepard asked, he wasn't in his best mood at the moment, not that he was angry. Corporal Shepard was just exhausted. After all the training he got, his biotic abilities were enough to be used on real operations, yet, according to the "experts", which were of an unknown source "_More experts besides doc. Oz_", he still needed to train every day until the migraine caused by the closeness of the mini Mass Effect fields generated by Eezo ceased. Shepard was implanted with a new experimental type of Biotic Amps, the L3 Implants, they were according to the Officers of the Alliance safer and easier to handle than the L2 but considerably weaker "_Well, at least I still got my pistol_" Shepard thought after receiving the news. That was a couple of months ago.

"Sorry Corporal, I just wanted to welcome you to the unit and congratulate you for skipping the first two ranks of the hierarchy system" Operations Chief Davidson, one of Shepard's new superiors said in a somehow unserious tone, shorter than Shepard, but was considered an over-the-top soldier, blond and with blue eyes and slim even for an Alliance soldier. Still, it was said that his intelligence in the battlefield was even better than his skills "but be careful how you talk to your superiors, I don't care that you call me by last name or even by first name, I'm like the cheerful soldier every squad needs, but you mess up with Satonaka like that and she's going to kick your ass, trust me. I've seen her. Scary"

"She hasn't faced an angry biotic in an unfair hand-to-hand combat Davidson, besides, I don't respect you enough to call you by rank" the Corporal said mockingly.

"Hah! I like you, Corporal. This might be the beginning of a truly beautiful friendship" Operations Chief started.

"If by beautiful you mean a 100% one-sided on my favor, then yes" and both marines shared a good laugh.

"Not after I kick you..." Davidson tried but failed, almost falling down. "Hey, the reports are true about your inhuman reflexes... if I ever get to see you at a bar, I pay for the first round, Corporal"

* * *

A couple of hours later, Shepard's new squad made an official welcoming ceremony to their new asset. Cameron Shepard felt like he truly was part of something since his parents died. But they had yet to see him in action, it was time for Shepard to prove himself... "_The time will come, I'm sure"_

"Corporal Shepard, we welcome you to our honorable squad. The 101st Ground-Assault Team of the Alliance. My name is Major Kyle and I'm you're commanding officer"

"We are a group of about 25 soldiers, we all earned our ranks honorably with effort and humbleness. I am Lieutenant-Commander Kanoko Satonaka and I'm the XO of the squad" She saluted and Shepard responded with the same gesture "We hope you show us your worth"

"It has been a while since a rank skipper was accepted in our little squad, all of them have been outstanding soldiers. The last one, Major Kyle, helped the former team to retake Shanxi 17 years ago alongside the other Squads like the 82nd Heavy Ground Team and the crew SSV Jerusalem, just to name a few. I'm Operations Chief Roy Davidson and I welcome you Corporal"

A month after the welcoming ceremony of Shepard in his new squad they were stationed in Akuze, a human colony located in a desert-like planet.

"This place is shit, isn't it Shepard?" Gunnery Chief Dan Schmidt stated after looking around him, only dessert surrounded their little squad, the team separated and started to patrol the borders of the colony.

"Damn right, Schmidt" Shepard responded "We should be doing something more important like hunting down Blue Sun gangs or stopping slavery in the Traverse that could affect our colonies. Not look out for a useless colony in the middle of nowhere"

"So, you are telling me you want to join Cerberus?" Corporal Christine Hardy interrupted Shepard's speech In-the-making. Chestnut, fair skin and good-looking, different to other Alliance women, Hardy had her hair on the loose.

"No, Corporal. I'm just telling that we should get some action. We've been here for four months now and nothing happens… And your comment about Cerberus? No, just no" Shepard answered

"Aw, I was hoping to see you planting a bomb. It would be easier to catch a glance on your nice ass" She said sarcastically, and a little flirty.

"You're serious, or is this just a plan to get me out of the team for rank disrespect? Because it might be working. How about a little reunion later?" Shepard responded also flirty

"And somehow I just got out of the conversation _I_ started" Schmidt said.

"You hear something, Corporal?"

"No, do you Corporal?"

"Stop it you two, that's an order" Satonaka screamed as she walked right in front of them.

"I suppose our little meeting has to be postponed Shepard" Hardy

"It is hard to know that, I was so close but our XO here just ruined everything" Shepard answered ironically.

"I said. Shut. Up" Satonaka remarked, this time it was more severe.

"Damn, I would have preferred the Operations Chief to come with us for the ride instead of our serious Lieutenant-Commander" Schmidt said.

"Stop it now, Gunnery Chief or I'll kick you out of the marines myself" She was extremely severe in this last comment.

"Damn man, you were mocking her before me and she just takes it all out on myself" Schmidt whispered a little angry.

"Maybe she likes you" Shepard answered in the same low tone.

"Or maybe she believes you are an idiot, both makes sense" Hardy finished.

"Why do you have to be so mean? Besides how does she liking me makes any sense?" Exaggerated Schmidt in a damsel in distress kind of way "She's military all the way, she'll marry the Alliance banner".

"Incoming message, translation. SHUT UP! Satonaka here" Shepard stopped along the other three, to wait for Satonaka's orders "You sure? We'll rendevouz with the rest of the team at the coordinates then. Satonaka out" she then transmitted some coordinates from her omnitool to the other's "It appears that there is a group of Vorcha bloodpacks trying to smuggle red sand on our watch, we have to take our sand-bikes and get there ASAP, I transmitted the coordinates so we all get there, doesn't matter the order. Let's go, move!"

The patrolling squad started to run to the bikes that were stationed in a facility nearby the main street "_Apparently all of our basic colonies have strange architecture_" Shepard noted as he got onto his bike and started driving. He was even faster than Satonaka herself and he wasn't even using his biotics.

When Shepard arrived, the bloodpack mercs had already started the fight "_They spotted the team? There is no way for this to be an only vorcha operation they are too stupid to detect our team at that distance... Maybe patrolling? But why so far outside the base..._" He witnessed his team putting up a good fight but decided to wait for the rest of his squad, as he waited he noticed something of use, the base was right in the middle of a semi-circle marked by the hill and he was standing right on top of it, the base was in the middle of a depression, that could be useful. As the other three arrived Shepard started "You see that? The mercs are defending, but they have not noticed us yet. I was thinking about dividing ourselves in a two and two mini squads. And them one of us would offer primary support to the fighting team down there by flanking the vorcha from this point, and the other mini team should do a long run and flank the vorcha from the other side of the battlefield. Then, we regroup and attack the main facility of these smugglers"

"Why should we run with the bikes right there?" Schmidt asked

"Running is stealthier. We are at the top of a hill so any sand the bike raises can get us noticed, but two of us just running should be safe enough" Shepard responded almost instantly, like he was expecting the question.

The other three were surprised at Shepard's attack plan and the Lieutenant-Commander added "Anything else, Corporal?"

"Well, I believe this is not a only-vorcha operation. They're stupid as hell so there is no way they could have spotted the rest of the assembled team down there without having a defense formation. And since these are bloodpacks I believe that the one coordinating this is a krogan, but not a violent one but a methodic one. Maybe a battlemaster and if this krogan is as smart as I believe he is, inside will be even more reinforced that the entrance"

"Okay, then we'll do that. We will divide in this way, Shepard and Schmidt will do the long run and I will be going with Corporal Hardy to do the immediate flank. Go!" Shepard started to run and Schmidt tried to follow up his pace.

"Man I've been in the team for three years and this is the first time I see a rookie talk to Satonaka like that, and this plan of yours is smart" Schmidt said in awe "you're awesome bro!"

"Thanks, man" Shepard said proud of himself "Now, let's double pace" Schmidt face changed to a terrified one.

"Are you serious?"

Once they finished the run and saw the vorcha still holding up even at the flanked formation, Shepard saw that his plan just went like he believe it would and ran to take cover at some metal barrels the mercs left out of the building. Schmidt whose specialty was the sniper rifle stayed far from the near combat zone and started his head hunting

"Gah! More humans!" one of the vorcha screamed right before his head took one of Schmidt's shots.

Shepard started to shoot and maintain a pressure from his side with the bullets as the main team from the front moved to a closer cover. The mercs were in trouble.

"_Time to see the results of my training_" Shepard's body started to emanate Eezo waves as he launched them in the form of a sphere. The sphere was as fast as a ship jumping through a Realy to another cluster. The sphere Shepard threw impacted on a barrel that one of the vorcha was using for cover. The barrel lifted leaving the vorcha defenseless for Shepard's shoots. Then Shepard drew his pistol and started to shoot the vorcha until it died.

The barrel was still under Shepard's biotic control and he then threw it to the vorcha smashing him with it, the vorcha's head started to bleed as he fell down "_that's two_"

The other vorcha that were in cover were taken by Hardy and Satonaka, as the main team took care of the ones trying to retreat inside the base.

Shepard left cover and walked towards the bodies and he then saw that they were in effect bloodpacks.

"My suspects were right, Major" said Davidson after he took a look to the armor.

"But the Terminus mercs aren't supposed to enter Alliance space. This may be the Traverse but is still Alliance space" Hardy said.

"Satonaka tell the rest of the man to rest, and clever strategy the double flanking one" Kyle ordered.

"Major, the strategy was not my own. Corporal Shepard got here first than three of us, I would say two or three minutes before" Satonaka started "In that short time he not only identified the mercs as bloodpacks but also planned the strategy and came to the conclusion that the leader of their operation might be a krogan battlemaster" She then saluted and went to talk to the other soldiers.

"Then, I'll ask the high command of the Alliance to give you a promotion to Service chief if you manage to do another strategy like that with no casualties. Because let me tell you son that you saved some lives here. For example our young Private Xen over there took a shot in the right foot and then we realized that we were discovered"

"I'm flattered sir, but I don't think I can do a better job than the one I already did" Shepard said, not that he didn't like the idea or that he didn't have strategies, it was quite the opposite but he was more of a ruthless man, from chess to skyllian five poker and didn't want the lives of his team to be spilled on a mission like this.

"Let's do something then, I'll ask for the promotion right now and give the report after this is done" Before Shepard could reply, Kyle had already sent the message to Admiral Hackett.

"You're not going to give me an option, right sir?" Shepard asked realizing he was not the only ruthless one there.

"No, I won't. Geniuses should be on high ranks and not on a low-spot where few would notice them" Kyle said smiling "Now Service Chief to be, what do you think should be our next step?"

Shepard sighed "Let's see... Do you have a map of the inside of the building, sir?"

"Yes, Corporal. I asked for it before leaving the colony, apparently this was an old storage for the colony resources" He clicked some buttons on his omnitool and a hologram of the inside of the building appeared.

There were two floors on the building; right after the entrance door was a small room, some kind of hallway with the width of the place. At the far left of this room was a door that gets to the main chamber, a really large room, it had barricades and there was a wall in the center of it making the room to have to form of a U letter. It was a perfect place to barricade because it would make it a one road trip to the second floor. No alternate routes. It was also an advantage for the soldiers because there was no way for the leader to scape once they were in.

The second floor consisted on basically the same large room but without the wall in the middle. Perfect for a krogan battlemaster to fight; spacious and slightly barricaded. Krogan battlemaster were usually not alone, they had followers and it was likely for a bloodpack krogan to have two followers or three krogan followers.

"I got it Major" Shepard said full of himself "You see, the place has no escape routes, that means that we'll need at least five of the group to guard the main entrance, since it is the only place for reinforcements to come, I recommend Xen for this group because it is unlikely for it to see action today, it is mostly a precaution"

"Got it, what else Corporal" Kyle said smiling.

"Now, the rest of the first floor is going to be complicated, since you're our leader I would like you to take 17 of the other men and women and clear the likely severed trenched first floor. Then you'll radio me so I can take a three person squad to fight the battlemaster. Since the men are likely to be tired after two of the brutal fights we've had today. I'd rather to take Schmidt and Hardy to the fight against the krogan"

Kyle nodded

"Once we beat the krogan battlemaster, we'll kill his followers and leave him alive. I'll call you then so we interrogate him, I want to know what are Terminus mercs doing in Council space. We record him if is useful and then we dispose of the krogan, he's too dangerous to keep alive due to the krogan regenerative nature… Sir"

After Shepard was done Kyle nodded and smiled "I knew you were a prodigy since I saw you in the training camp of Elysium… Will do as you say, wait for my call with the safe team in the first room Corporal" Then he went to tell the rest of the team about the plan.

It took about 20 minutes to Major Kyle and the strong team to clean the first floor, 20 minutes Shepard had to wait for the call "No casualties Shepard, now go up there and get your first military success. Kyle out"

"Let's go guys" Shepard said. As they walked inside the main room of the first floor, all they saw was dead vorcha and lots of shot marks but no human bodies. Shepard and his team walked right through the strong team and Major Kyle himself and up the stairs.

"Be ready" He warned as he opened the door. Both Hardy and Schmidt nodded and then the door opened. In effect there was a krogan battlemaster with his followers waiting in the large spacious room for the leader of the humans.

"You are too young to be the leader" the battlemastersaid annoyed "was he killed and they sent you as bait or somethin'?" his followers growled as Shepard and his team got farther inside of the room

"I'm not the leader of the entire team, yeah… But it might surprise you to know that I am the one who planned all this. The strategist if you must" Shepard said without lacking confidence.

"Dispose of him" the battlemaster ordered

"You know what to do guys" Schmidt used a tactical cloak to hide his presence walked right to the face of one of the krogan shot him with the sniper right before the cloaking wore off. The other hostile krogan was surprised and tried to charge Schmidt, then Hardy just shot him with a shotgun as much as she could without overheating the gun, the krogan was getting tired of all the shots and the effect of his curative nature was obviously not permanent. Once he put his knee to the floor he was sentenced to death, Hardy gave the krogan the last shot and finished the life of the second one.

"_Concentrate. Accumulate energy. And remember inertia and momentum_" Shepard was thinking as the battlemaster stand up surprised.

"You are going to pay for that! Human!" The battlemaster shouted and started to charge to Shepard's team himself, impacting with Schmidt who was taken off guard because he was not expecting to be seen with his cloack on.

"Schmidt!" Hardy screamed but it was not long before she was targeted but the battlemaster.

"_Energy... Wait for it, wait for the momentum and__ release!_" everything around Shepard seemed to stop at first its movement including the battlemaster, then it appeared to deform and then Shepard charged to the krogan faster and stronger by altering the Mass Effect fields of his way. The impact between the human and the krogan was incredible, the krogan flew in in the air and Shepard did so himself "_Damn I misscalculated_". Both of them fell to the floor and the other human soldiers took the chance to tie the krogan up in his chair, although Schmidt then rested his back on the wall. Shepard recovered quickly from the impact "Major…. the krogan's b-been captured... You ok, Schmidt?"

"I was just nearly destroyed by a krogan" he then stopped talking, breathing heavily "Yeah, I am ok"

"Corporal, you okay?" Kyle asked really concerned as he opened the door, entering the room with the Lieutenant-Commander Satonaka besides him.

"Think I broke a rib…. when I charged to the krogan…" Shepard said

"You what?"

An hour passed until the krogan regained consciousness

"You are crazy human, heheh" the krogan said looking at Shepard's direction "Your biotic charge broke through my barriers, shields and did me some damage" he said surprised "Just. How much force did you apply in the charge?" He said animated by Shepard's charge.

"That way it even seems cruel that we are going to kill him" Hardy said "You sure you are up to it Shepard?"

"I don't care as long as that human you call Shepard does it" the krogan said proud of himself "He's a worthy rival for any krogan, even if you don't believe it, he is" he then burst into laughter.

Shepard's eyes were lost, and Major Kyle got hint of it quickly "Shepard… Corporal you okay?"

"_He likes me? But he is an alien… Aliens are bad. Right… Now that I think about it, it was all the batarian's fault, but krogan barely know things about humans… I might be going crazy thinking about this to much. I should just kill him. Yes, kill the krogan. Now_" Shepard started to draw his gun "_but I have to ask him. Interrogation, yes. That's first_" Shepard contained his arm

"Shepard! Are you okay?" Major Kyle repeated the question louder.

"Y-Yes, I am Major." And he got up from the floor trying to ignore the pain on his rib "Does anyone have medigel?" he still felt a slight bleeding in his insides.

Schmidt nodded and applied a ration of medigel on Shepard's body "You sure you're okay man?"

"Yes, Schmidt" he said in his cold tone, the same one he used in the Stockholm. After that he started to walk towards the krogan "Why are the bloodpacks here?" Kyle started his recording.

"We were order to smuggle those red sand shipments in the planet, supposedly there was a buyer from this colony" the krogan explained "pretty dumb now that I think about it, I mean, this planet is shit human. No offense"

"I told you this place sucked, Satonaka" Schmidt pointed out and she rolled her eyes ignoring Schmidt.

"Hey, It is somehow home. Besides it is 'Lieutenant-Commander' but I suppose you want another beating, don't you?"

"Enough! Both of you" Shepard said in a terrifying tone surprising everyone in the room "next question. Who is the employer?"

"I don't know. Some batarian slaver" Shepard's eyes widened as he remembered "_batarian slaver…. Batarian slaver-batarian slaver-batarian slaver_"

"Shepard?" Kyle was getting more worried.

"Name?" Shepard asked.

"What?" the krogan didn't seem to understand

"What was the name of your employer, krogan?" the biotic waves were starting to emanate from Shepard's body. He was losing control.

"_Tanok-Tanok-Tanok_""I don't know. Tanok I think…"

"Where is he?!" Shepard screamed

"Calm down Corporal!" Satonaka screamed but it was of no use.

"I don't know, he contacted our leader via omnitool. I just follow orders human" The krogan started to worry, then smiled again "Yeah, it was a batarian. Tanok was his name and I don't know where he is hehe. What are you going to do about it now?"

Shepard's right hand was concentrating all of the Eezo waves "Thanks for the info. One last question what is your name? Everyone deserves to die being acknowledge by his enemy"

"Weyrloc Nald" The krogan said as he closed his eyes. Major Kyle hurried to stop the recorder and Shepard's Eezo filled hand made a direct hit with Nald's face before anyone could stop him. Smashing everything in it in the process.

"It's over, sir" Shepard said returning to his usual self "should we go back to the colony?" He said and started to walk to the outside of the building.

"Well. At least he's on our side" Schmidt said

"Cancel the promotion, Major" Satonaka said to Kyle.

"Shepard is a good man, I won't cancel the promotion petition Lieutenant-Commander. I want Hackett to make it official, he deserves it"

"He just murdered a krogan in cold blood!" She stated angry "Please, cancel the petition" she now pleaded "As thin as it is, there is a line between job killing and murder and that was the latter, Major, please..."

"I'll read his dossier. I want to know his pre-service history and see if there is anything I can do to help him but I am not cancelling the petition Satonaka. If he hadn't make this strategy, it might as well be you the one murdered today by one of the vorcha or this krogan himself. Dismissed, get the hell out of this place, tomorrow we are leaving Akuze anyway, and the same goes to you two. Hardy. Schmidt"

"Aye aye, Major" the three said before leaving the place.

"Shepard, You make me remember myself at your age" Major Kyle said aloud once all of the soldiers left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Good news and goodbyes.**

"I should go" 2nd Lieutenant Shepard said to one of the new recruits for the 101, Nikolai Peshenev "It was good chatting with you, Private"

"Likewise, Lieutenant" Nikolai said without saluting, thing that picked Shepard's attention.

"No 'aye, aye' or salutation, Corporal?" Shepard asked intrigued.

"Niet, sir" he simply said "I don't mean to disrespect, I just feel not right to talk to the genius strategist from the 101 with tedious military honorifics. You are better than that, sir"

"That is an odd way to see it" Shepard sighed "But I guess there's nothing _I _can do to convince you otherwise"

"Niet, it is more of a personal belief Lieutenant, even if it makes me seem odd. In any event, it was good to chat with you" Nikolai ended.

"Yeah well, as I said before, I should go" And after saying that Shepard started to walk to his quarters "_that made no sense at all. Weird guy right there_"

Two years after the mission of the 101 on Akuze, Shepard became somehow the tactics expert on the team. Lieutenant-Commander Satonaka was transferred to a ship. The UNN Florence, a cruiser that was supposed to guard somewhere deep between Council Space in some sort of "Human aid to the Citadel races", or at least that was the motto of the operation. Although in reality it was no secret between Alliance Marines that it was only a façade from the Alliance and High Rank politicians to get more saying in galactic politics.

"_I don't complain, but they shouldn't lie about it_" Shepard thought, then sighed "_But then again I'm just a soldier, no politician so what do I know?_"

As Shepard got into his small quarters, his omnitool started to beep to which Shepard freaked out "_Damn, can't I rest in this place sometime?_" Since his promotion to 2nd Lieutenant Shepard got more tasked than ever, having at least 5 to 16 jobs per day, which was even more than Satonaka's responsibilities as Lieutenant-Commander back in her days at the team, and the worst part is that most of his jobs were usually talk to the Team about random stuff "_And still, Alliance doesn't want to give me the batarian slaver investigation or any access to their important databases for that matter, I wonder why…_"

In any case Shepard saw his message and calmed down a little when he saw it was just a message from Operations Chief Dan Schmidt "_Hey man, we should hang out tonight, I already convinced Davidson and Hardy may be coming with one of the new female recruits! I know it is would be three guys and two girls AND we're military, but we can still enjoy the looks. So, what do you say?_"

Shepard smiled at the irony "_Hardy and enjoying the looks only? Nah_". Although they were stationed on Terra Nova and Shepard had a ton of new responsibilities with his rank, he decided that he could take a little rest, especially since the new XO Commander Davidson was also going. Besides he and Hardy had become really close friends during the two years Shepard had in the team, maybe even closer than allowed by military standards "_but as long as we don't bang, and nobody else knows about it, then we'll be just fine_" Shepard just couldn't pass the chance so he wrote an answer to Schmidt.

"_Alright, I'm going_" He sent the message and lied down in his bed without closing the onmitool, he then pressed some buttons and started to read one of the classic novels he bought in one of the stores near the Alliance base on Terra Nova. "_I don't understand how humans nowadays just look up on classics like fucking Othello, this book is awesome… I'd rather to have an old book though, with the paper and cover and all. But I don't have time to go back to Earth or to go to the Citadel to get one_"

Shepard lost himself in the lecture, he was about halfway through the book and was enjoying it so far "_I definitely love how Othello is pursuing Desdemona trying to find out the truth. But I love even more how Iago is seeking his revenge to Othello by deceiving him and making him believe that she is cheating on him. I'd really like to do something like THIS to those batarians" _ Shepard sighed "_Will be hard to find Tanok though, he's just ONE batarian and I heard that the gang is being chased in the investigation I am not conducting! hate that they didn't pick me to look for them… In any case, I 'm so glad they decided to adapt that play to a book because it makes me think more than any other book I've ever…_"

His reading was interrupted by the sound of the door of his quarters opening and then closing.

"Still reading your Othello digital book, Lieutenant?" Hardy, now the Operations Chief, said getting closer to Shepard's bed as he stopped his reading. Ultimately, she got on top of Cameron "So, what do you have in mind?"

"We cannot have intercourse, Chief. Besides my room's still unlocked" he said not really serious about it.

"I know we can't, but that only applies to sex because it is too noisy" She said somehow sarcastically "We can still make out as long as there are no cameras, microphones and your room's locked" she then introduced a code with her omnitool and shut the door "There. You have no escape now"

"I'm glad my room is still as private as day 1" Then, both started to kiss each other passionately in a slow and passionate way, their tongues fighting each other's for dominance of the developing action, and even if hers fought hard, Shepard's as always ended up controlling the kiss while at the same time he pushed her body back slightly to make clear whose dominance.

The seconds passed and they both stopped to catch breath. Shepard's omnitool started to beep to what he grunted in anger; he then saw the message and his eyes widened.

"I should go Christine. Major Kyle wants to talk to me, seems urgent" He said getting up of the bed and unlocking the room.

"One minute and fifteen seconds? New record for you…. That's why we cannot do it, though" She said disappointed.

"Because of the time being too short? Or is it because you are scared of making a lot of noise due to my abilities? " To what he smiled but of irony, due to the raid in Mindoir 5 years ago, Shepard's 'skills' were rusty _"Last time I had real sex was... I don't even remember, what date's today? It was a long time ago, that's for sure… Of course I won't admit that to Christine ever, maybe I should practice in one of those 'clubs' next time I visit Elysium_"

Shepard left his room and hurried to the Major's quarters, once he got there he messaged Major Kyle to unlock the door, to what he pressed the holo button and waited for the door to open. Once open, he entered the room and Major Kyle was standing up, besides him there were holograms of Admiral Hackett and the defense Alliance committee, there was also an empty spot for another hologram.

"What is this Major?" Shepard asked curious about the presence of such important members of the Alliance Navy.

"Lieutenant Shepard" Started Admiral Hackett "Here, in the presence of your commanding officer and the defense committee, I make you the formal proposal of entering the N7 training program" Hackett said in a proud tone.

"We have heard a lot of you, even if you don't know our names Lieutenant. I assume you noticed that empty spot, that is where an acquaintance of yours usually is; but Major Anderson was not asked to be in this process because we didn't want him to influence anything, we do trust him, but you two know each other. In any event, many soldiers are capable of becoming officers. Many soldiers are good handing weapons and also, many soldiers are capable of planning smart tactics for the success of any mission. But just few soldiers present these aptitudes alongside an outstanding leadership and a… Short age for a military man" One of the male committee members said.

"According to the reports Major Kyle here, you have not only planned every single strategy for your team the past two years, but also commanded some squads under the orders of your superior. Risky from him, but apparently it was trust well put" Another member of the committee, a woman, said but she was obviously displeased by the part of letting Shepard take leadership on operations that corresponded to Kyle.

"So, what do you say Lieutenant?" Major Kyle said ignoring the tone of the committee member.

"I… I don't know what to say. I mean, N7? Me?" Shepard was overwhelmed by the news.

"You don't need to give us an answer right away Lieutenant, you can think about it for a week and…" Hackett was interrupted

"I'm in, Admiral" Shepard said.

"Are you sure, Lieutenant? The N7 program is a hard training for elite soldiers. You should think about it before giving an answer" The female committee member remarked but Shepard's mind was already clear.

"Don't think this is a no-brainer ma'am, I have been thinking about joining the N7 program if I had the chance, ever since…" He stopped his comment because he didn't want to tell them about Grissom "... I enlisted. I know the 20 hours of training per day and I know the requirements to pass the tests from N1 to N7. I never actually expected to be asked but I want more, I feel like I need more responsibility in the Alliance, real responsibilities; no offense sir" Kyle shook his head saying that there was none "and I also feel that I want to make humanity proud. So I say this loud and clear, I am in"

"Well, he doesn't lack the determination, Major" One of the so far silent members of the defense committee said, then added "Well, Lieutenant. You are coming tomorrow back to Earth, I'm sure you are aware of the N7 training facility, Vila Militar, here on Rio de Janeiro if you know everything you say you know, Lieutenant. And one more thing, you'll be on my personal watch since you are the youngest N7 we have ever asked" Shepard nodded.

"Then we are out" Admiral Hackett sentenced and the holograms disappeared.

"You have guts, Lieutenant" Said Major Kyle as he reached Shepard's hand and shook it "I never accepted the offer myself"

"Why is that sir?" Shepard intrigued

"Well, that is because I never wanted to leave the unit. N7s are outstanding soldiers, but they need to sacrifice the unit or ship they are in to go to Earth just to try to be an N1 and you are not able to leave until you get the final test for the N7 rank. I got so used to constant travel that I was scared of being stationed on Earth forever, besides when you actually become an N7 you might need to sacrifice even more than a team or crew for humanity's sake" Kyle explained "Besides, being part of the reoccupation of Shanxi paid me well enough"

"Yes it did, sir" Shepard said nodding "Now if you'll excuse me, I should go, I was going to reunite with some of the team members as a celebration for a smooth run of our security operations here on Terra Nova, but I guess it has become my goodbye party"

"Good luck on the N7 program, Shepard. You deserve it" Kyle said as a way to say goodbye.

Shepard nodded and left the facility for the bar on the coordinates Schmidt gave him, the place was relatively close to the building and thus it was full of Alliance Marines, which made it kind of difficult to find Schmidt and the rest at first.

He was able to spot the table, only Schmidt, Davidson and a redhead were there, there was no sign of Hardy so Shepard was a little disappointed, but nevertheless he sat at a free spot.

"... Look who's here! Lieutenant" Schmidt said in a confident way "I thought you'd be the last one to be here"

"XO" Shepard said totally ignoring Schmidt and saluting Davidson

"Lieutenant" Davidson saluted backwards, a little amused at Schmidt's face.

"And you, little girl. I don't think I know you…" Shepard decided to ask "Are you a one of the new recruits for the 101?"

She shook her head "Lieutenant Mary Whitehold of the 315 Ground-Assault team. Pleased to meet you Lieutenant Shepard" She said smiling, at the same time, Shepard smiled back. "You may sit, Lieutenant" she added.

Shepard sat and started chatting to the other people present.

* * *

"So that is what was going on in your mind when you sent me to that moshpit!?" Schmidt asked angry.

"Yeah, we are talking about Eden Prime, usually nothing big goes on there" Shepard simply responded while Davidson nodded and Whitehold watched in disbelief.

"I could have died!" Schmidt screamed.

"And you would've passed down in history as the first fool to die in Eden Prime, not even the eldest to arrive all those years ago has died yet" Shepard said coldly.

"I still can't believe that you, the genius strategist didn't figure out that there was a group of smugglers on Eden Prime with all the hints" Whitehold said.

"Well, that is a funny thing Mary" he said remembering the first time he kissed Hardy right in that mission.

"Just how distracted were you?" she asked.

"A lot, but in the end we were able to rescue Mr. Hostage here and eliminate every bandit, when I found out that there were smugglers and that they had Schmidt I had to improvise. But we did it mainly because of my biotics and Davidson's gun abilities... And Hardy's stubbornness on not letting Schmidt die" Shepard explained "You owe Hardy by the way" he said looking at Schmidt "When's she going to come? I need to tell you all something but she must..."

"Speak of the devil" Davidson said "she just entered the place"

Shepard got up and waved his hand to get her attention.

She seemed upset so Shepard raised his hand even more, ultimately he succeeded in getting her attention.

She was getting to the table fast-paced and her face was of full anger and as the other soldiers saw this they decided that it was best not to be in her way. Her eyes were stuck on Shepard as more and more people just got out of the way. Once she got close enough she slapped Cameron, gaining the look of surprise from everyone near the table and those who actually paid enough attention in the place "You decided to join the N7 Program?!"

"Y-Yeah, it was proposed to me about an hour ago and I accepted" he said really confused at her anger.

"You know you'll have to go to Earth and you won't be able to leave until you are up to the final test?!" She asked even more furious.

"Yes, I know that" he said keeping his cool.

"It could take you years to even pass the N2 test!" She said.

"Yes, I know" Shepard kept repeating his line as if it was the only thing he could say.

"But what about the team? What about…" She stopped right on her tracks and turned around "… I… You are an asshole Shepard" She then left the bar.

Shepard was still in his spot, not really knowing what to do.

"Shepard, congratulations" Davidson said shocked.

"Yeah, man" Schmidt added. Whitehold remained silent since it appeared it was a matter too personal of Shepard's team.

Cameron was still confused about what to do and Whitehold catched that, so she decided to say something to the Lieutenant of the 101 "Lieutenant, you should go talk to her, it is already bad enough that she was upset, but if the reason is because of you then you have to be man enough to try to amend her" She added, to which Shepard nodded.

"Yes, you're right LT" Shepard then started to walk and left the bar looking for Christine.

"Man what was her problem?" Shepard heard Schmidt say as he left.

* * *

After a couple of hours, Shepard had no idea where to look for her, she wasn't in her room, she wasn't in the outskirts of the base, or even in the main colony. Shepard decided to look in the oddest place that came to his mind, his own quarters.

"Shepard! I…" Hardy was effectively there, waiting for Shepard "I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier"

"Don't mention it. I understand why you are angry… I was going to tell you all at the bar"

"I know Shepard; I know you took the decision today. The Major told me but is just that I don't want you to leave… I was thinking to go… Serious with this whole affair" She said apologetically.

"The same here… But then I remembered that it is forbidden. It would have become harder to try… I might regret this for my whole life but I'm afraid of…" Shepard stopped, not sure of what to say next.

"Trying? Yeah, I am too" She said understanding "The rank means a lot of shackles for relationships like ours, Shepard"

"For what is worth Christine. I believe you'll find a boyfriend any of these days" Shepard said a little sad, but he really meant it.

"Thanks. But I don't have big seductive skills with this uniform on" Hardy responded "I bet you'll find a girlfriend faster" she smiled with sadness.

"Oh please, you've seen me dancing, every second I move means a thousand years of loneliness" he joked, they both shared a nice laugh, it wasn't really awkward but more of a sad laugh, then she got closer to Shepard, put her hand on his chest looking down.

"It was good while it lasted, Lieutenant" She then left the room "At least you won't dance around me anymore, you could blind a krogan with those moves" She then started to walk.

Shepard looked at her going every second and even followed her out in the hallway. He noted that she didn't looked back at all, it somehow felt like a stab in his chest "Now, that was hard…" He then sat on his bed and started to read Othello from where he left off as he received a message from _Interplanetary Spacelines "ANC Casablanca 8 Earth Hours, in the morning. Thanks for choosing us as your Travelling Enterprise Lieutenant Shepard" _He kept reading his book after reading the message.

* * *

The next morning, Shepard was waked by an annoying noise.

"W-What the hell?" he said trying not to fall asleep again. It was a message from Davidson.

"_Lieutenant we wanted to officially congratulate you for your new promotion or whatever being an N7 is and we wanted to celebrate it personally with you, so come to the lounge. Right. Now. That's an order… And don't worry, I'm sure you have already packed what you needed to because your ship, the ANC Casablanca in case you didn't know leaves early. Now move your ass, man!_" that was everything in the message.

"The Casablanca… Damn thing leaves in about four hours" He say to the clock in his omnitool "Or two… I can still…" Shepard then realized that he overslept "_I forgot to set the alarm!_" He hurried out of the bed almost falling to the floor and took one hand back, put in a change of clothes and boxers, one for each day of the week, he also added a toothbrush and two pairs of socks. He then took a mid-size backpack and put every piece of his armor inside, then added a holographic chess-board and his credit chin.

Afterwards, he put on some of his basic Alliance clothes, changing wasn't much of a problem for him because he sleeps in boxers. Then, he left his room and used his omnitool to send a message to Alliance maintenance "_Send the rest of my belongings to the N7 program facility Vila Militar on Earth. ASAP_" after that he hurried towards the direction Davidson gave him and there he found every member he befriended during his first mission with the 101. Hardy, Davidson, Schmidt and Kyle.

"Unfortunately, Satonaka was not able to come here in such a hurry" Davidson told Shepard "Though she congratulates you for this, Lieutenant"

"Also, the big russian weirdo said something like _tell the Lieutenant that he deserves being an N7 and not sharing his time with the likes of us in petty activities_" Schmidt said with his 'impression' of the russian accent.

"Don't act all high n' mighty on me just because you are my XO, Davidson" Shepard said ignoring Schmidt, then added "you are all friends and companions to me" He looked at them "When I'm done with the N7 program, I'll fight to be repositioned in this unit and also, Hardy I want you to tell Peshenev that thanks and tat I am sorry he is not here personally"

"Aye aye" she simply said, hiding her sadness behind seriousness, Shepard was able to see that.

"Are you sure about wanting to be with us, Lieutenant? They could assign you to a ship or to any important operation in Council space, even in a colonizing team… Heard that the Alliance is eyeing a planet that's going to be called Freedom's Progress, you might…" Major Kyle started but Shepard put his arm in his shoulder.

"I _am _coming back, sir" he then saluted them and they all saluted back.

"You better become an N7 Shepard, or else I won't forgive you!" Schmidt declared in loud yet unserious tone. Shepard looked at him like expecting something "sir"

"Damn straight" added Hardy. He didn't miss the chance, so he gave her a look "sir" she said rolling her eyes.

"Aye aye, guys" Shepard then lowered his hand and started to walk to the bay "My shuttle will take me to the ship in a couple of hours, do you guys want to eat at the port restaurant? I'm buying" Shepard said and Kyle smiled.

"I'm not going Lieutenant, you all have a nice day" he left the place after that.

"Well, unlike the Major, if it's free I'm going" Schmidt said exited and then they all started to walk away "_Hey Shepard, have I ever told you about…_"

The time passed and Shepard decided to go to the bay alone "_it'll be the best for the team, you all have your responsibilities and they have been delayed long enough. Thank you, really, for coming_" he told them as they argued, it was like that until Davidson withdrew taking the other two with him.

A voice sounded from the speakers "_The shuttles that are transporting to the ANC Casablanca with destination to Earth are departing from the Bay B-13, please head there as soon as possible.__Interplanetary Spacelines_ is also proud to announce that this is the twenty-first year we are transporting civilians in interplanetary traveling, all of those years without a single delay"

"I think I should go, then" Said Shepard to himself as he stood up and started to walk to the bay.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back and I have no excuses other than I went to another city... A mountain more like it for vacations and I am arriving just now. Enjoy guys!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The first days of an N7.**

_We are now arriving at Rio de Janeiro Stars Spaceport. We hope that you have all enjoyed the trip and remember to use our service next time you need interplanetary transportation. Passengers of the ANC Casablanca may now leave the ship. This has been your captain. Remember: stay strong, stay human._

"_Yeah, thanks for the trip, douche… What kind of motto is that anyway?_" Shepard was tired after the trip, for some reason he was unable to sleep through the whole 19 hours. Was it anxiety? Maybe he should have not accepted. It was too late now because he was already in Rio de Janeiro.

Shepard got into the shuttle and it started its ten minute trip to the Spaceport. He noted that most of the people were either military or business men or women, at least in his shuttle. He then saw a man with chestnut hair and sunglasses. The man noted Shepard was staring at him and moved his head another direction which made Shepard realize that he wasn't blind "_Why is he using those glasses up here then?_"

The man just kept staring at Shepard once he moved his head to keep inspecting the shuttle but Shepard was able to feel the gaze of the stranger on him, at some point the shuttle started to reduce its speed in order to land. Then, the man changed the direction of his view to somewhere else again, yet Shepard remained curious at such a particular person. The doors of the shuttle opened and the man was the first one to go out, after everyone else in the shuttle walked out, Shepard moved himself.

After going through some checking procedures that took around five more minutes of his time, Shepard was finally let move freely. He was now officially in Brazil. He wanted to go to a hotel and sleep but was unable to. His orders were to go to Vila Militar the second he set foot on Rio.

Since Shepard didn't know where to look for, he started to see some shops at the spaceport, and every now and then he saw an alien immigrant or rather "_extraterrestrial individual that is stationed on earth…_" according to every diplomatic on Earth he reminded himself.

He wandered for a couple of minutes when his omnitool beeped indicating that he had received a message. "_Follow these coordinates, and yeah. First part of your training is to get here trotting. We know where you are and what you are doing so move, Shepard_"

"Now, that is the creepiest message I've ever got since I enlisted…" He then started to trot with his bags on his back and his spirit low mainly because he was tired. To worse it all, the coordinates were at a distance of about 7 kilometers "_But they are vigilating me, can't cheat on this one can I?_" The first Kilometer was good enough but Shepard hadn't slept for more than 20 hours and he needed to rest constantly to be at his full shape, the second kilometer was worse and for the sixth kilometer Shepard was barely holding up, then another message was received by his omnitool "_One, two. One, two. One, two. That's right soldier, move it. Remember that you have to go up that hill_" Shepard raised his head and saw that there was a hill with a noticeable structure on top of it.

"And... Now up the... The hill" Shepard said aloud when he saw he was starting to trot over an inclined area "I am already hating this place"

Getting up the hill would have been easy for the Lieutenant in any other situation, but the lack of sleep and the distance already ran was getting him. When he reached the top and saw that the entrance was blocked, he sighed and fell to his knee.

"You did it, Lieutenant, and just like the reports from Kyle said you _are_ a runner, not a new record but close enough. Now get up and go to the shooting range. My name is General Caro and I will be your N1 personal capacitator. You will be shown the facility after the training hours are completed. And I don't care about your lack of sleep because when you reach N6 I assure you that you are going to spend at least 26 hours without sleep. Now move!" after that kind of introduction Shepard couldn't help but feel sorry for himself in the years to come.

"Aye, aye… Sir" Shepard said between heavy panting. He got up as quick as he could and headed inside the main facility

"And I don't want to hear about you quitting the first day. No one has ever quitted before the first week. You hear me?" Caro said.

"Understood General" "_I thought I couldn't quit_" Shepard then started to trot with his things still in his back.

"I didn't tell you where the shooting range is" Care said hopeless.

"I'll just have to find out" the Lieutenant said simply while entering the building.

"Keep that attitude and maybe you'll last two weeks here, Shepard" General Caro said but Shepard was already too far away to listen to him.

* * *

"Hey, where's the shooting range?" Shepard was asking around to the staff people and N7 candidates he saw, but they were apparently ignoring Shepard "_Maybe I should have asked General Caro where it was_" He said repenting his decision to go to the shooting range without asking "_At least he congratulated me…_"

He asked around for about thirty minutes until one of the maintenance people told him the direction.

Once he got to the shooting range, which was full of candidates shooting at some targets, he then realized that there was no one to give him orders, then a message appeared in his omnitool "_Took you long enough kid, and yes I am not there. Hey, what were you expecting? You aren't the only candidate, of course only a few get to N2 and about 2 out of 147 candidates actually become N7. And I'm sure you're asking yourself how I know everything you do and shit… Well, let me tell you that we are always watching… At least here on Earth. Get to one of the spots and do some target practice Lieutenant, in about an hour or less one of our staff members will take you to a little trip_" Shepard read the message shocked "_We are always watching? What the hell does that mean? Does it have something to do with that creep on the shuttle?_"

Shepard dismissed his thoughts, took a weapon and looked for a free spot. Once he found it he started to shot the gun. It was a Striker I and started to shoot to the target. The first round of shots, thirteen to avoid overheating, was good hitting almost every shot in the area around the chest, but he had troubles pointing to the head because the accuracy with the Striker models was not that good "_at least not for me_"

The time passed quickly as Shepard shot the target over and over again. He felt that it wasn't really training but more like it was just one of those stupid kill time orders he usually got when there was nothing to do.

As said by General Caro, one of the staff members came to Shepard in less than an hour, 53 minutes to exact "_but who counts?_"

"Hello Liutenant Shepard, my name is Jonas Querales, I am here to show you around and also if there's anything you need, remember that you can always count with the staff" Querales said in a monotonous tone.

"Before finding this place, I tried to speak to most of the staff and no one would answer my questions" Shepard said a little angry "Just saying, you know?"

"Well, Lieutenant. That is because most of our staff consists on realistic humanoid drones that work with a VI that's programmed to talk only to official members of the facility. I believe you weren't given a code by General Caro?" Querales explained.

"There is a code?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, it prevents the VIs from giving information to people that doesn't... Need it" the other one said.

"Does that even work? I mean someone could just steal a code and use it" Shepard said.

"Yeah, it is not really a code; it is more of a mark or a tattoo that is... Inserted under your skin and that stops working once you reach the title of N7, or quit, when we deactivate it" Querales said.

"And how do you really install this 'code'?" Shepard asked.

"We do it while you're asleep, I promise it won't hurt, Lieutenant" Querales said simply, Shepard freaked out.

"What kind of place is this!? First Caro said something about always watching and…"

"Lieutenant, calm down"

"…Now there's this thing about putting things on me while I'm asleep? Seriously this place is sick"

"Lieutenant, calm down. There are cameras recording this…" Querales tried to make Shepard stop his complains.

"What? Cameras too? There's no privacy in this place at all, is there?" Shepard said finally calming down

"No, only in the bathrooms. Now should we move?" Querales asked, Shepard simply nodded following the other man "_Well, at least he is being honest_"

"I got only one more question before we go. Why were other candidates ignoring me too?" Shepard asked while walking.

"That is because they were also VIs, including candidates, staff and trainers, there are only around 500 living beings, 502 if you want to count our motivational pets but this place was not originally a military base. It was built around 75 years ago with the objective to be a refuge for the people afflicted by the War of the Heavens"

"The last human war right?" Shepard recalled "The one that used those huge cloud-like tungsten warheads?"

"Yeah, that one. After the crisis passed and places were rebuilt as a term of the Treaty of Buenos Aires and the Xiang Lu Policy and people started to go back to their own homes, this building was left abandoned. After the N7 program was created by high ranks of the military and the Sol Relay was discovered by Jon Grissom's team investigating the data on mars this place was repurposed to become what it is today, the training camp for outstanding soldiers like you Lieutenant" Querales then finished.

"I see" Shepard simply said "_Ah, history class at the school in Mindoir… How I miss those days" _Shepard thought they then started to walk.

"So this is the shooting range, obviously" Querales said as they left the room.

"Over there is the dining room where you'll have all of your meals" he kept explaining: the outside training field, the main HQ, the main reactor, and the list of places kept going on and on.

* * *

"Finally this is your room, you should start sleeping right now because you are new so you won't be awaken until tomorrow's training session starts" Querales said but there were things that were bugging Shepard's mind.

"If you don't mind me, can I ask you a few more questions?" Shepard said.

"Be my guest" Querales said barely looking Shepard in the eye.

"First, one of the Defense Committee members said that he will keep a close look on me since I'm the youngest candidate to the day… How's that gonna work?"

"I don't know, Lieutenant. Admiral Melbourne doesn't usually speaks to us, also it works like the way General Caro keeps a close look on you, by a new satellite vigilance tech that works only on Rio de Janeiro, this is the safest place in the world, even more than Vancouver's Committee Residence" Querales said.

"Why? There's only military here" Shepard asked.

"And prototypes, databases, massive destruction weapons from the old and new days, tons of confiscated red sand… Do I continue?" Querales said.

"No…"

"Then is there any other question?"

"Why do you need so many VIs?" Shepard asked.

"Place big, lots of stress, few people. I think you can figure it out" Querales answered annoyed.

"Finally. Is it really that hard to become an N7? Can I quit?" Shepard asked boldly.

"Depends on your qualities, Lieutenant. The training was created so that it only took seven months to be an N7, one rank per month. But the tests are difficult and it is false to say that you never leave even if you fail. You fail one of the tests from N1 to N5 twice and you are out. No retry, no nothing, there is people that can't stand the pressure and quits, yeah Lieutenant, you can quit. The people that quits just disappears voluntarily and there are other people that fail twice and just get their career records erased as punishment and there is a bigger amount of people that fails the N6 and N7 tests and dies on them… That is what happens to the vast majority of candidates, in the end out of 500 candidates, only 10 or 11 actually become N7… There are a lot of misconceptions about the program but it is our fault for never fully clearing it out but of course if we told everyone what I am telling you we wouldn't have a lot of candidates. You are free to leave should you see it necessary whatsoever" Querales finished his explanation "sleep Lieutenant, and I have to go"

"_Well, that was really encouraging fucker_" Shepard thought still in his bad mood "_I hate pretending to be nice_" he then entered his room and saw that it had a lot of space for a single person room, but since there was only one bed Shepard just ignored that and started to order his things he then realized that the other things he left in Terra Nova arrived before than their owner himself which made him angrier "I guess I'll just sleep, I have about… When does the training even start?!" He was getting angrier every second passing so he finally just threw himself into the bed and tried to sleep.

* * *

The alarms started to sound and Shepard's omnitool was beeping, he received a message from an unknown sender "_Caro, for sure_" he read it as the alarms stopped their noise, the message said "_Rise and shine cupcake, since you don't know the drill I'll explain. You got from now one hour to eat breakfast in the dining room, then training, then lunch, then training, then dinner, then training then sleep did I made myself clear?_" He read as he got up and started to put on his clothes "Aye aye, General douche" the omnitool beeped "_that's the spirit_" Shepard already hated the place.

"In a place full of AIs. How am I supposed to know who are the humans?" Shepard said aloud once he got into the crowded dining room, or hall, it was really big "Now would be a nice time for suggestions, Caro" he added knowing that the annoying general was listening.

There was nothing, no messages, no answers and no contact "_This place is as confusing as they make them_"

"So, you are the prodigy guy?" Shepard heard a male say, he turned around and faced a really tall, dark-skinned man who was looking at him coldly.

"So what if I am?" Shepard said, not really intimidated.

"Now, now kid. We are all friends here… There is no need to be confrontational" the guy said, still coldly.

"Then why are you speaking to me like that?" Shepard intrigued.

"But of course, where are my manners? I am Strike, nice to meet you… " the tall man said.

"Not really what I was asking, but whatever… My name is Cameron Shepard and it is nice to meet you too" he said "Strike is a… Nickname right?"

"Of course, we are about 300 trainees and most of us have nicknames for each other" Strike started to explain "some sort of custom" he added.

"Well, I'm not a fan of nicknames" Shepard said "but I don't care if you or your guys call me something as long as it is not an insult"

"It is not up to me to decide Shepard. Just prove yourself and become an N7" Strike explained "the nickname might come in the way"

"I see" Shepard shrugged and asked "how do you recognize humans from VIs?"

"Easy, next time you speak to someone just say 'Start analysis process' and if it is an AI it will tell your name, rank, time here and your NRank. If it doesn't, it is human" Strike explained "Now if you'll excuse me I have to get my breakfast; we have about twenty minutes until the training starts"

"Twenty?" Shepard ran to the food table and grabbed a little bit of everything. There were every kind of food, from sandwiches to sushi, yeah, sushi for breakfast. Shepard loved Japanese food, so he took about twelve rolls, he also took a bowl of cereal and venezuelan arepas, he looked for a place to sit and then started to eat really fast, which was not a good idea considering the training he had to take but he did not care, it was way better than eating equivalents or military rations on other planets "_I'm surprised that I can actually eat all this food in a military facility_"

Once the alarm sounded, every VI disappeared leaving only the humans on sight. All of the candidates present in the hall stood up and started to trot systematically, like they were programmed to do so, there was no warning or indications on Shepard's omnitool so he guessed it was better to go along with everyone else so he followed the others to wherever they were going.

While trotting, he found Striker and got beside him "Hey, where are we going?" Shepard asked.

"The outside fields, it is time for the trotting session, then there is an obstacle session, then shooting range, then flying sessions and then driving sessions, living here is pretty much of a loop on that system" Striker said.

"I see, and it is all varied with the meal times and sleep hours right?" Shepard said.

"No, that is everything we do before lunch time" Striker said "then we have more trotting, bodybuilding sessions, the obstacle marathon and then more shooting range sessions"

"Really? Every day?"

"Well, we do strategy simulations on Sundays which means that we have to, today. And weight lifting on Thursdays and Saturdays, too" Striker added.

"How do you meet people, talk to other humans?" Shepard asked.

"On meal times only, it is mainly the only time we have to socialize… Or do something else besides sleeping and training" Striker said.

"How long until I am able to do the first test?" Shepard asked.

"One month from today, but are you sure you wanna just try to do it right now? You know that if you fail twice…"

"Yes, Striker. I know but I think I can handle it"

"Wow, Shepard, you are a bold one"

"You know what the drill is, mofos! Now stop talking" Shepard heard the trainer said through the loudspeakers "Shepard, you are knew so I'll explain. Shut up. Do what the others do and do not complain. My name is Nayal Mehra and I'm the early session's trainer"

* * *

Once they were done and it was lunchtime Shepard was already exhausted "We… We did what I used… To do in a week of training in like five hours or so, huh" Shepard managed to say.

"You get used to it, now come let me introduce you to the others" Striker said.

"Yeah… I… Forgot we still have things to… Do" Shepard followed Striker.

When they arrived to Striker's table, there were five more people in it "Shepard, these are my N7 pals: Diablo" he said pointing to a Brazilian looking guy, brown eyes and beard, the man just looked at Shepard, then kept eating "she is Ice Fist" he said pointing to a blonde and petite woman.

"S'up?" She said, then kept eating.

"That one is Shadow, think you can guess why" the person known as Shadow was wearing a black hood and the standard military uniform but in black. Definitely the weirdest looking person in the Alliance Shepard has ever met; Shadow was acting like there was not a single person around him, or her. Shepard also noted that Shadow was just standing there, not eating not looking and it didn't look like it was breathing "_weird_"

"Shadows sister, Sweetheart, the sweetest of the group" Striker said pointing to a redhead who happened to be Scottish.

"Nice meeting you, you hot stuff" She said "Although it appears that the morning session killed you… Disappointing since Mehra was going easy on us for you"

"_That was 'going easy'?_" Shepard put up a nervous smile as Striker introduced the final person of the group.

"He is Arisen, because he believes he is some sort of chosen one thanks to being picked for the program, never speaks to N0s or N1s" he said as Arisen ignored the whole developing situation "he is a megalomaniac"

"What a charm…" Shepard said sarcastically "Should we go get some food?" he asked to Striker.

"Yeah, we should"

* * *

**. . .**

"Shepard is not what I expected, Kyle" a grave voice said to a hologram of Major Kyle "We'll see how he does in the tests" the sun was setting behind the white-headed veteran with a scar that went right through his right eye, who was talking, the day was about to go to an end and he had a report of Shepard's first day performance.

"Melbourne, give him a chance. He is just a prodigy like his father" Kyle said to the superior officer in command of Vila Militar. Admiral Riley Melbourne.

"According to you, to be honest… But he isn't the reason I am angry. Kyle" Melbourne stated in a monotonous tone.

"Then why?" Kyle asked.

"Anderson"

"What about him?" Kyled asked now confused.

"He heard rumors, you'd think that someone like Anderson would let Shepard be independent, yet he was reading every single one of your reports. He knows a lot about the boy" Melbourne said, still in a monotonous tone.

"You can't blame Anderson, the kid is exceptional and he has to know about Mindoir"

"And he knew Robert Shepard, and his methods" Melbourne said.

"You are going to be tough on Cameron because of his father's crazy ideals?"

"I'm going to be tough on him because he is the son of the former illusive man's right hand… And he has mental scars that can compromise his sanity" Kyle just gave a dead glare to Melbourne as he said.

"The times he was in commands of our operations, he never sacrificed a single life to get to the objective… He is not the heartless son of a terrorist you think he is Melbourne"

"A person's nature tends to change when that person is unstable, he is as likely to help as he is to kill… Like that Krogan Battlemaster in the report that your former Lieutenant-Commander gave me, Kyle"

"Satonaka gave you a different report? I expected her to do so…"

"Kyle, you are getting into a lot of trouble for that kid. I am not going to snitch you on this one because I owe you from Shanxi but I think all of that trust you are giving Shepard is misplaced. I know from experience, I trusted in Robert and he did horrible things to his wife so his son could be born as a biotic, besides betraying the Alliance and the Citadel Species" Melbourne said.

"If you don't trust him, why did you give a green light on him with this entire N7 program thing?" Kyle asked.

"Because, Anderson was getting near to him with a proposal that he would have been unable to refuse" Melbourne said.

"What offer?"

"Chasing the bandits from the raid with him and the team of the Stockholm" Melbourne simply said.

"They found them? But… Where are they?"

"Torfan" Melbourne said "we must ensure that Shepard _never _gets to Torfan"

"What are the possibilities?" Kyle asked "You are worrying too much for unnecessary things. Don't be too hard on him, who knows? He might even surprise you. Kyle out" the hologram disappeared.

"Yeah… Who knows?" Another hologram appeared on the room.

"Misha, how is the Project Normandy doing?"

"We are halfway through with it, incredibly the turians are being an amazing help and their design tips are clever… You have an idea on who the captain is going to be?" Melbourne thought for a second.

"Major David Anderson, no one else and it is not optional. Melbourne out" the hologram disappeared and Melbourne took the chance to start smoking a cigar. "This is going to be one hell of a ride, huh, Shepard?" he said as he read the reports on Cameron.

* * *

**That's it for now! Now please let me rest and I'll bring a new chapter soon. By the way guys if you are reading this you are all free to review, it is starting to worry me the lack of them alright?**


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